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Essential  Facts 

REGARDING  THE 
AMERICAN  FRIENDS 
BOARD  OF  FOREIGN 
MISSIONS 


I.  HOW  IT  IS  CONSTITUTED 


HE  American  Friends  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  is  one  of  the  Boards  of  the 
Five  Years  Meeting  of  Friends  in  Amer¬ 
ica.  Each  Yearly  Meeting  has  at  least  two 
representatives  on  the  membership  of  the 
Board.  There  are  thirty-seven  members  in 
all.  The  home  office  of  the  Board  is  in  Rich¬ 
mond,  Indiana. 


II.  ITS  ORGANIZATION 

The  Board  is  organized  with  the  usual 
officers  and  two  executive  secretaries.  The 
Chairman  is  George  H.  Moore,  pastor  of  the 
Friends  Meeting  at  Bloomingdale,  Indiana. 
The  Vice-chairman  is  E.  Gurney  Hill,  presi¬ 
dent  of  the  E.  G.  Hill  Company  of  Richmond, 
Indiana.  The  Treasurer  is  Edgar  F.  Hiatt, 
president  of  the  Dickinson  Trust  Company 
of  Richmond.  The  two  executive  officers  em¬ 
ploying  a  large  part  of  their  time  in  the  work 
of  the  Board  are  Charles  E.  Tebbetts,  the 
General  Secretary,  who  gives  attention  princi¬ 
pally  to  the  holding  of  conferences  and  de¬ 
livering  addresses  and  is  responsible  for  the 
general  oversight  of  the  work;  and  Ross  A. 
Hadley,  the  Assistant  Secretary,  who  is  in 
charge  of  the  office  and  most  of  the  corre¬ 
spondence  of  the  Board  and  who  assists  the 
General  Secretary. 


The  Board  has  seven  standing  committees: 
one  on  Finance,  one  on  Candidates,  one  on 
Home  Office,  and  four  Field  Committees,  one 
for  each  of  its  Mission  Fields. 


III.  ITS  DUTIES 

The  main  functions  of  the  Board  are: 
(1)  To  administer  the  Foreign  Mission  work 
of  Friends  in  Mexico,  Jamaica,  Cuba  and 
Africa,  planning  the  work  and  determining 
the  policies  to  be  followed,  as  well  as  receiv¬ 
ing  and  expending  the  funds  required  for  its 
support;  (2)  To  establish  and  maintain  close 
interest  and  sympathy  between  the  home 
churches  and  the  foreign  fields;  (3)  To  ex¬ 
amine,  prepare  and  appoint  candidates  for 
service  in  the  fields  under  its  control. 


IV.  WORK  OF  THE  BOARD  IN 

1915-1916 

1.  The  sum  of  $45,000  has  been  received 
and  expended  for  missionary  purposes. 

2.  Month  by  month  these  funds  were  for¬ 
warded  to  the  field  as  required  for  the  support 
of  the  missionaries  and  for  the  running  ex¬ 
penses  of  the  Missions. 

3.  Applications  have  been  received  from 
twelve  Friends  desiring  to  become  mission¬ 
aries.  The  Board  has  accepted  the  applica¬ 
tions  of  eight  Friends,  who  are  in  training  or 
are  gaining  practical  experience  and  will  be 
sent  out  as  the  way  opens. 


4.  Full  and  accurate  account  has  been 
kept  of  all  money  received  and  expended  and 
of  work  done  at  home  and  on  the  field. 

5.  More  than  5000  letters  have  been  sent 
out  from  the  Board  office  to  Friends  and 
others  at  home  and  abroad. 

6.  In  Mexico,  in  spite  of  unsettled  con¬ 
ditions,  450  pupils  have  attended  our  Mission 
Schools.  At  Matamoros,  missionaries  have 
been  constantly  at  work  except  for  a  few  days 
in  June,  1916.  At  Victoria,  schools  and  other 
work  were  kept  up  by  Mexican  workers  under 
the  supervision  of  one  American.  At  Mate- 
huala,  with  no  American  worker  in  residence, 
school  and  church  work  has  gone  forward 
without  interruption  under  the  care  of  the 
members  of  the  Mexican  congregation. 

7.  In  Jamaica,  twelve  missionaries  have 
been  at  work.  There  were  1066  pupils  in  the 
Mission  Sunday  Schools  and  419  in  day 
schools.  Ninety-two  were  received  into 
church  membership  during  the  year.  Thirty- 
two  young  men  and  women  received  high 
school  and  industrial  training  in  the  two 
Mission  boarding  schools. 

8.  In  Cuba,  there  have  been  nineteen  mis¬ 
sionaries  —  three  of  them  transferred  from 
Mexico.  Twenty-three  Sunday  Schools  have 
enrolled'  1384  pupils.  Evangelistic  work  and 
week-day  religious  schools  have  been  con¬ 
ducted  in  the  territory  round  about  the  five 
main  stations.  Five  native  preachers  and  eight 
native  teachers  have  been  at  work.  In  the 
five  Friends  meetings  in  the  island,  there  are 
269  members. 

9.  In  Africa,  there  are  four  main  stations. 


Seventeen  missionaries  have  been  on  the  staff. 
The  work  is  many-sided,  including  evangelis¬ 
tic,  educational  and  medical,  as  well  as  in¬ 
dustrial  activities.  Over  4000  pupils  have  been 
in  the  schools,  mostly  under  native  teachers. 
Portions  of  Scripture  have  been  translated  and 
published  on  the  printing  press  of  the  Mission. 
The  saw  mill  and  Mission  farm  have  afforded 
occupation  and  instruction  to  more  than  one 
hundred  of  the  African  people.  Thousands 
have  heard  the  Gospel  each  week. 


V.  FACING  THE  FUTURE 
,  Immediate  Requirements  for  1916-1917 

Sixty  thousand  dollars  from  Friends  in 
North  America  will  be  required  to  provide  for 
current  expenses  upon  these  four  Mission 
Fields. 

“Current  expenses”  includes  the  support  of 
our  fifty-eight  missionaries,  taxes,  repairs,  in¬ 
surance  on  Mission  property,  expenses  of 
evangelistic  work  and  of  Mission  schools,  be¬ 
side  the  general  Mission  expenses  such  as 
printing,  postage,  Mission  meetings,  et  cetera. 
For  these  items,  the  Board  has  authorized  the 
expenditure  of  $71,697.96  this  year..  Over 
$11,000  is  to  be  raised  on  the  field  from  native 
contributions,  tuition  fees,  et  cetera,  leaving 
$60,641.44  to  be  raised  by  Friends  at  home. 

The  Board  has  studied  with  great  care  the 
needs  of  each  mission  and  the  estimated  cost 
of  all  work  proposed  for  this  year.  After  al¬ 
lowing  for  the  necessary  expense  of  adminis- 


tration,  it  has  authorized  spending  the  follow¬ 
ing  amounts  on  the  field: 


Mexico 
Jamaica 
Cuba  . 
Africa 


$16,181.00 

15,047.97 

18,006.84 

17,462.16 


Eighteen  thousand  dollars  more  is  urgently 
needed  for  buildings  and  other  equipment  this 
year,  as  follows: 

Traction  engine  and  trailer  for  Africa 

industrial  work  . $3,000 

Purchase  and  equipment  of  school  prop¬ 
erty  at  Holguin,  Cuba .  7,500 

Dwelling  house  for  missionaries  at  Ki- 

tosh  Station,  Africa .  1,600 

School  building  for  missionaries’  chil¬ 
dren  in  Africa .  3,500 

Boarding  school  for  training  native 

workers  in  Africa .  2,700 


VI.  WORKERS 

Within  the  next  two  years,  the  Board  ought 
to  send  to  the  field  not  fewer  than  twelve,  and 
if  possible  fifteen,  new  missionaries. 


VJI.  SUMMING  IT  ALL  UP 

Fifty-eight  missionaries  at  work 

On  four  Mission  Fields 

Embracing  an  area  of  20,000  square  miles 

With  a  native  population  of  1,000,000. 


MEXICO 


In  Mexico,  church  members  and  former  pupils 
of  our  Mission  schools  are  now  carrying 
Christian  ideals  into  business  and  govern¬ 
ment  service. 

Mexican  workers  trained  in  the  Mission  are 
carrying  on  work  at  several  centers  during 
the  absence  of  the  missionaries. 

JAMAICA 

In  Jamaica,  ours  the  only  work  for  15,000  East 
Indians 

Ours  the  first  industrial  school  in  the  island. 
Thirteen  hundred  seventy-six  church  members. 

CUBA 

In  Cuba,  work  in  twenty-one  towns  and  vil¬ 
lages. 

With  six  organized  churches  and  269  members. 

AFRICA 

In  Africa,  4,000  boys  and  girls  in  Mission 
Schools 

Under  forty  native  teachers. 

Forty-seven  church  members 
With  165  applicants  for  membership. 

Sixty  thousand  dollars  from  Friends  in  North 

America  will  support  this  work  during  the 

coming  year. 

If  each  Friend  gave  the  price  of  a  single  post¬ 

age  stamp  each  week  to  Foreign  Missions, 
the  income  of  the  Board  this  year  would  be 

over  $70,00,0. 


VIII.  PRAYER  THE  GREATEST 

NEED 


Knowing  as  it  does  somewhat  intimately 
the  difficulties,  temptations  and  discourage¬ 
ments,  as  well  as  the  multiplying  opportuni¬ 
ties  for  service  which  confront  the  missiona¬ 
ries  in  each  field,  the  Board  urges  upon  Friends 
everywhere  the  necessity  of  persistent  prayer 
on  behalf  of  these,  their  representatives  in 
other  lands.  The  missionaries  regard  prayer 
as  their  greatest  need.  They  expect  our  help 
and  are  counting  on  it. 

AMERICAN  FRIENDS  BOARD 
OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 

Second  National  Bank  Building 

RICHMOND,  INDIANA 


